I've seen it, more of a High school football movie then say varsity blues. Played Varsity football for 4 years, hell I played JV football as a 8th grader with 11th graders. I just dont remember any drama like the movie had, we did get to the state quaterfinals in Colorado only to lose to nat. ranked #4 class 4A (which means they have 4,000 +students) Cherry creek. We were class 3A. football is quite different in Colorado then Missouri, I remember in Missouri we had to play teams from Lousiana(sp), Texas and Kansas, so that was quite fun riding on a buss for 12 hours to those places.

Forgot to add my fun parts to the above post, I remember getting a high sprian on my ankle during the final game, as a 11th grader,about 5 min into the game, I did not come out, found out the next morning I broke my ankle, and had toget a screw put in, got to wear a cast for 3 months =), I still have the cool scar along my ankle. Also I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth pulled out on a friday afternoon, but we were playing Central, and I could not miss that game, so I played, full game with those guages in your mouth, I had to change them everytime I came to the sidelines cuz they would be soaked with blood, needless to say it was a shitty weekend after that game,lol Maybe the worst was a grade III MCL tear in my 2nd game as a senior, I played the rest of the season in pain, since surgey would take me out for 10 weeks.

I've seen it, more of a High school football movie then say varsity blues. Played Varsity football for 4 years, hell I played JV football as a 8th grader with 11th graders. I just dont remember any drama like the movie had, we did get to the state quaterfinals in Colorado only to lose to nat. ranked #4 class 4A (which means they have 4,000 +students) Cherry creek. We were class 3A. football is quite different in Colorado then Missouri, I remember in Missouri we had to play teams from Lousiana(sp), Texas and Kansas, so that was quite fun riding on a buss for 12 hours to those places.

You don't live in Odessa, my friend. You know what Odessa is? It's the Indian word for "the pits of hell." I've been there.

No offense to any Odessans who might be here, but your town is kind of messed up.

And I've spent many, many summers in Odessa. It's not that messed up especially when compared to any other small town. Odessa is in the middle of nowhere, just like Casper, WY, Springfield, MO, or Grand Junction, KS. It's not unrealistic for these communities to revolve around school activities. That's a part of the West.

That movie was deliberalty over the top in many aspects, not to mention the "liberties" they took with the truth. It was okay, but nothing great. The quick edits grew tiresome.

I know some things about American high school football...I know I laugh and make fun of the football players when they lose...actually that's about all I know about American high school football. I don't really like football that much, but I do watch the Superbowl every year. Or I watch the commercials...whatever, same difference.

And I've spent many, many summers in Odessa. It's not that messed up especially when compared to any other small town. Odessa is in the middle of nowhere, just like Casper, WY, Springfield, MO, or Grand Junction, KS. It's not unrealistic for these communities to revolve around school activities. That's a part of the West.

That movie was deliberalty over the top in many aspects, not to mention the "liberties" they took with the truth. It was okay, but nothing great. The quick edits grew tiresome.

You can't make a movie out of a book like that without bending the rules a little. They don't want to frighten people.

And that's not the way of the West, it's the way of small towns. I live in a small town that is almost as obsessed with HS football as Odessa was in 1988. The only difference is that we don't have the Mojo Girls. It can be pretty scary sometimes, the pressure they put on these kids. It's the kind of thing that screws up innocent kids, and it's the kind of thing that brings chaos to towns.

I've noticed that same thing with little towns in Utah as well geeks. My school is a 2A (400-600 students) and I've seen a lot of pressure the other schools we compete against put on their athletes. I believe its all a matter of pride that drives them.

"I feel that when I'm old, I'll look at you & know the world was beautiful..."